ICELAND (TRAWLER "MILWOOD")

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will inform the Icelandic Government that the Aberdeen owners of the trawler "Milwood", now detained in Reykjavik, have offered a bank guarantee to cover the amount of any penalty which may eventually be imposed by the Icelandic authorities on the owners as a consideration for the release of the trawler by the Government of Iceland and her return to her owners in Aberdeen.

Does not the Lord Privy Seal realise that a great injustice is being done by the failure of the British Government to draw the attention of the Icelandic Government to the difference between the two cases—first, the case against the owners of the "Milwood", and, secondly, the case in a quite different court against the captain? Will the Lord Privy Seal draw the attention of the Icelandic Government to the difference between the two cases and the fact that the case against the owners of the "Milwood" can be heard and determined separately without detaining the ship in Reykjavik?

The Icelandic Supreme Court ruled on 26th June that the trawler might be held pending the trial of Skipper Smith on 5th September. As the hon. and learned Gentleman knows, this is an unusual case which has been complicated by the fact that Skipper Smith did not return with his ship.